Now that we've beat Ghetsis and saw the credits, we've ended up back in our room right from the start of the game, which you might notice is now tidy. Guess our friendly mother did a good job of it, huh?

Go downstairs and you'll have... two mothers? Both of them will talk, then the lower one will reveal himself to be Looker, back from Pokemon Platinum! Looker will talk about locating the sages of Team Plasma who managed to flee after we took down N's Castle. While Ghetsis - who was also a sage - has been taken care of, there's still another six to round up. The remaining parts of this walkthrough will be devoted to that purpose, as well as some extra parts afterwards. The sages are what I'm going to use to guide the walkthrough, however.

After Looker asks for your help and you accept, you'll get the SUPER ROD! At last, we have a fishing rod. Now that we've seen the credits for the first time, we're going to start seeing Pokemon from the original 493 in addition to the new 156 in this game.

When you go outside, you'll find Cheren and Bianca who will congratulate you. After some talking, Prof. Juniper's father will show up and give all three of you the NATIONAL DEX, an expanded version of your PokeDex that shows data on all 649 Pokemon as opposed to just 156. The receiving of the National Dex has opened up a lot more to us, including the whole of eastern Unova and expansions to some of the areas that we have previously visited.

Cheren and Bianca will leave afterwards, allowing us to move freely. Now we may as well start rounding up the sages; the closest one we can find is located in Route 18, so make your way there.

Also, a warning: there is a SEVERE level spike now. I have no idea why, but pretty much any trainers you encounter that are unlocked once the National Dex is obtained will have an average level of 65. Yeah, I'm not kidding. Don't worry about it too much though - good strategy and type matching will get you through, and thanks to the new EXP system you will get some very nice experience as a result fighting these higher levelled trainers. The Wild Pokemon in new areas will also be pretty strong; you can expect those in normal grass to be around 50, whereas those in the tall grass may reach as high as 60.

Also, we still have an ultimate objective. Take a look at your trainer card - there is absolutely no record of defeating the Elite Four! The Elite Four we fought was broken and weak due to a smashing from N's Pokemon; they may well have been a lot easier than you would expect an Elite Four to be. No longer! They are now back at full power, and the champion - who you can probably tell is Alder by now - is ready and waiting to face you. The catch? Their full power mode has them all with six Pokemon, with levels ranging from 71 - 77. You're going to have one hell of a time beating them at the moment! Of course, that's what we have so much extra content for. At any rate, our ultimate objective is still to become Pokemon Champion. N's intervention kind of ruined that for us.

We'll begin by getting the first sage. Make your way to Route 18; as you may recall, you can get there by Surfing left from Route 1 and following the path through here, taking the lowest current in Route 17. You might well want to try your luck with the Super Rod, as you'll be able to get some non-Unova Water Pokemon! Hell, if you're really feeling lucky, dip the rod in some dark spots on the Route 1 waters. You might just get a Level 70 Milotic! (Don't count on it actually happening though, seriously.)

There will also be swarms happening across the region now; check any gatehouse and it'll tell you what route a swarm is occurring in. Go there and you have a 40% chance of a particular non-Unova Pokemon appearing there.

Also, as a final note, it appears you get some box wallpapers for beating the League. You get four to use - a Reshiram design, a Zekrom design, a Monochrome design and a Team Plasma design.

Make your way over to where we got the Waterfall HM before; on the very south of this beach you will find the Sage named Lot. Talking to him will yield some storyline details and a TM32, DOUBLE TEAM. Looker will appear out of nowhere and take him away afterwards - get used to this, because it'll happen for each of the remaining five sages.

Next, head over to the Dreamyard. Ideally, Fly to Striaton City and make your way from there.

Head over to the far right of the area. Previously, there was a traffic cone blocking our way through the gap between the barrel and the wall; however, the addition of the National Dex has somehow removed this cone, allowing us access. Go through (just go as far north-east as possible without going through where the Cut tree is if you didn't see this cone before). Literally two steps above the barrel is an ULTRA BALL to pick up (hidden). Afterwards, after go through the grass or around the wall and descend the stairs here.

Ready for your first taste of high levelled trainer fights? You might notice the music gets quieter here too - not bad, not bad at all. Make your way forward and around and a researcher will challenge you with three Pokemon. He sends out a Drowzee at Level 63! This guy will probably use an X Attack on it, but it's nothing huge to worry about. Be careful not to underestimate the enemies you face; the ~10 level difference will make stat up moves and the like that much more dangerous. Don't hesitate to return to a Pokemon Center if necessary.

Below is another researcher running around who will actually avoid you if she can - if you want to fight her you'll have to actually catch and talk to her. She has another three Pokemon to throw at you, in addition to an X Speed she likes to make use of.

Go to the right and check the boxes in the center for a hidden AWAKENING, then return to the section you were in and fight the Psychic on the far left. He'll also run away from you. This guy has four Pokemon, so watch out! Luckily his AI is horrendous. You can also check the singular box a bit above him for another AWAKENING.

Continue south now. There's a female researcher who will fight you without running. Fight the running Psychic to the right afterwards and then the researcher running around below her. There's another AWAKENING hidden in a singular box to the left, as well as one last Psychic running around and a visible TWISTEDSPOON to get.

Now to head back up; in the bottom right corner there are steps that lead outside. Take them, and the sage will be immediately visible. Go near him and he'll run towards you, then talk for a bit. He'll give you TM75, SWORDS DANCE before you part.

Go to the top left clearing here to find a REVIVE, then go left. Tall grass? Yes, and with non-Unova Pokemon to boot!

Pokemon

Type

Location

Encounter Rate

Evolution Method

Watchog

Normal

Tall Grass

20%

N/A

Liepard

Dark

Tall Grass

20%

N/A

Raticate

Normal

Tall Grass

10%

N/A

Munna

Psychic

Tall Grass

10%

N/A

Ledian

Bug/Flying

Tall Grass

10%

N/A

Ariados

Bug/Poison

Tall Grass

10%

N/A

Kricketune

Bug

Tall Grass

10%

N/A

Venomoth

Bug/Poison

Tall Grass

10%

N/A

Quite an assortment of fully evolved classical Bug-types here, wouldn't you say? Try and encounter a Kricketune - you might be surprised by what its animation reveals! Or it might have just been me, but I honestly had no idea it had wings. The wild levels here aren't terribly strong compared to some places we'll see, but 47-50ish isn't bad.

On the other side of the grass there is a HYPER POTION you can pick up, as well as a hidden MAX POTION if you check one of the barrels. There's a Strength boulder to push; this creates a shortcut that lets you not have to go all the way around again. There's also some stairs; go down them.

Follow this route around and you'll be able to find a TM85, DREAM EATER, as well as some more grass. The grass has the following;

Pokemon

Type

Location

Encounter Rate

Evolution Method

Raticate

Normal

Tall Grass

35%

N/A

Kricketune

Bug

Tall Grass

35%

N/A

Munna

Psychic

Tall Grass

20%

N/A

Ledian

Bug/Flying

Tall Grass

5%

N/A

Ariados

Bug/Poison

Tall Grass

5%

N/A

There's also one other notable thing here. On the right side you'll see a 3x3 grid of grass; every Friday there will be a Musharna who sits in the center of this grass that you can battle and catch, much like Lapras back in GSC and HGSS.

As previously stated, you can only catch this Musharna on Friday, but you can catch/find a new one each and every Friday every week. If for some reason you want a ton of Musharna, try setting the time to 23:59 on a Thursday and letting it roll over; a Musharna should appear if you refresh the area.

That aside, you may be asking why on earth there's even an event based Musharna. The answer is this: this particular Musharna has a different ability to normal ones. Normally, Musharna can have either Forewarn or Synchronize, but this particular one has the ability Telepathy. While Telepathy itself isn't too amazing normally (it allows the avoidance of partner moves in doubles or triples) it's unique in that it is a "Dream World" ability, a special ability that can normally only be obtained by catching the particular Pokemon within the Dream World setting, accessed via a particular option on the C-Gear. There's one other Pokemon like this who we'll see soon enough, but as far as things go Musharna is pretty unique.

If you happen to want to get Telepathy onto some baby Munna, you'll need a female Musharna to breed with any other compatible Pokemon. The baby Munna will have a 50% chance of inheriting the hex flag giving it its Dream World ability, which in this case is also Forewarn.

That's all to cover in the Dreamyard. Next up, let's check the desert. Make your way to the Desert Resort via Castelia or Nimbasa, then head to the Relic Castle, which you might remember was in the north of the Desert Resort, signified by a small staircase you could descend and a bunch of weird blue statues. It's time we see what those statues actually do, as well as rounding up the third sage.

As you attempt to enter, Prof. Juniper will pop out and tell you about the statues surrounding the entrance, then give you a RAGECANDYBAR, an item which can wake these Darmanitan statues up. Well, that's certainly a new use for them! You will probably have a second one too from all the way back in Icirrus City.

Once she leaves, you can talk to any of the five statues and you'll be given an option to give them one of the candy bars. Agree to do so and you'll be thrown into a battle with a Darmanitan!

These Darmanitan are unique in that they also possess their special Dream World ability, which is known as Zen Mode. Zen Mode allows Darmanitan to achieve an alternate forme that is generally not possible; specifically, it causes it to morph from its normal form into a strange blue Psychic thing with a changed stat spread whenever its HP drops to 50% or lower. The change happens quite seamlessly - though signified by a sprite swap - whenever Darmanitan drops below 50% or rises above 50% again - if at any point a Zen Mode Darmanitan's HP rises back above 50% (ie with Leftovers or something) it'll swap right back into its old form.

As it is, the applications of the ability are limited due to the complete switch in attacking strength. Use it if you wish, but I personally think Sheer Force works better for it.

Now to actually go inside the castle. Head inside and make your way right to the bottom floor, where we found Alder and Ghetsis long ago. Once you get there, head to the right side of the room and you will see there's now a large pile of sand allowing you to reach a door high in the wall. Go up it and enter.

This encounter list remains the same for all of these new parts of the castle, with two exceptions.

Nice to see some old familiar faces in Sandslash and Onix. Head forward and you'll find a Plasma grunt, who gets scared and runs. Follow him (or her, I can never tell with these overworld sprites) into the next room and then the grunt will attack instead. Seems it is a guy! He only has one Pokemon, a tough Level 64 Krookodile. Handle it the same as you handled Grimsley's. It's not really any tougher considering the trainer it's being controlled by.

He'll allow you access afterwards, but now we have a bit of a maze to get through. Go straight down and move into the next room, then go left one room. Go down in the next room, then keep going left. On the second room you enter after that one, you'll find more decorations and the sage looking through a door. Talk to him to receive a TM04, CALM MIND before he gets arrested.

The room right above us now is interesting. If you go to the end of this corridor like room, you'll find a Pokemon! This is Volcarona. It's the powerful and majestic evolution of Larvesta, the Pokemon we received the egg of a long time ago back in Route 18. If you've been wanting to use Volcarona but couldn't be bothered with the huge Level 59 evolution level, then this might be the chance that you have been waiting for!

There's nothing special about this Volcarona such as being a Dream World ability Pokemon, but it's an incredibly rare Pokemon all the same. Volcarona is amazing for two reasons - one, its already very good stats. The first three may not look so amazing, but take a look at those last three! It has a 550 base stat total, which is incredibly high for a non-legendary. Second, it can boost those three good stats even further with its near signature move, Quiver Dance. Quiver Dance is a move that is only held by a few Pokemon - all of them Bug with the exception of Lilligant - that raises Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed one level in the same turn. You can imagine the applications of this. Combine that with Volcarona's good attacking types and you've got one hell of a Pokemon to use. This is something definitely worth adding to your team if you have the room, and I think it's a pretty cool Pokemon on the whole. It has a catch rate of 15, so it may prove a little difficult, but it should work fine. Net Balls are probably your best bet.

On a side note, I find it a little strange that you don't even have the rare Wild Pokemon music when fighting this thing... Also, you might not want to hit it with a Rock attack if you want it to live, due to quadruple effectiveness. It should come back after you see the credits again if you knock it out though. In fact, knocking it out might not be such a bad idea if you don't want it or you've already got an Volcarona. My Level 54 Emboar with a Lucky Egg OHKOed it with Head Smash and got 6906 exp out of it. Ohohoho. But don't listen to that; catch it if you can.

Also, the room we're currently in (ie the one that has Volcarona in) has a different wild list to the rest of this place. Specifically, this room is absolutely full of Claydol wanting to kill you, as is the room directly outside the Volcarona room.

Pokemon

Type

Location

Encounter Rate

Evolution Method

Claydol

Ground/Psychic

Castle Floor

100%

N/A

Exit the room afterwards, then go left constantly. After about two rooms you'll be able to go left no more, but you will be able to go up. Do so and then go left, up and left again to reach a large staircase. Follow this path all the way and you'll end up in a room with a singular staircase. Go up this and keep going up every staircase you see.

You'll ascend a lot of floors (if you look at the Wild Pokemon you'll notice the levels decreasing). At one point the ground will turn from whatever it is to sand again, which you'll be able to hear as well as see. Get your itemfinder out here, as there's a hidden PP MAX to pick up a bit below the stairs on the left.

Continue going up the stairs and eventually you'll reach the surface again. However, this time you'll be in the tower like building left of the staircase entrance and you'll be on the opposite side of the ledge. Pick up the valuable TM26, EARTHQUAKE here and then jump off the ledge and make your way outside.

The next two visits we have are purely to round up sages. Fly to Driftveil City and go into the Cold Storage at the bottom.

Simply make your way back into the open storage container that we fought the Plasma grunts in ages ago to find the sage. Talk to him to get yet more back story and TM01, HONE CLAWS. Once he gets forcefully vacated from the premises, turn your sights towards Chargestone Cave. Fly to Mistralton City and enter from that side.

You need to make your way to the bottom floor; when you enter, take the path north at the crossroads and descend the staircase, then descend the staircase directly opposite you.

This is the basement floor; head to the very bottom to find the sage. Talk with him, then two Plasma grunts come and attempt to stop you taking him away! Get ready to fight it out a bit.

Once you defeat them, the sage will give you TM69, ROCK POLISH, then Looker will come and take all three Plasma members. A job well done, sir. That takes care of five sages. We won't see the sixth for a little while yet, though.

There are still two things left to do that have unlocked in western Unova. The first is the ability to sail on a boat. If it's evening on your game, you can take a ride on the Royal Unova, which also includes trainer battles.

To get to the Royal Unova, go down to the dock a little to the right below the Pokemon Center. There, talk to the receptionist and pay $1000 and you'll be let on.

You'll be led properly onto the boat, then the journey will begin. You'll get to see a cutscene of it departing from Castelia City, which it then begins taking a journey around. You have two options; you can either fight the trainers on the boat or watch the views of Castelia City from the deck by going up the stairs right in front of you. The panoramic views are really very nice. You get to see the Skyarrow Bridge up close and everything. Game Freak really outdid themselves graphics wise. It's noteworthy that you are on a time limit, however! You have until the boat makes a complete journey around Castelia City, though I don't know how long that takes.

The sucky part is that the only way to find battles is to go around all the rooms and hope the people inside offer you a fight. If you get unlucky - as is what happened to me one time - you'll get kicked off the boat before you can even find any battles. Plus you can only ride it once a day. I've only managed to battle one trainer a go though :/

On the chance you do find trainers, all of them will give you nice cash prices and defeating certain numbers will get you items. Possible items include BERRY JUICE, LAVA COOKIE, OLD GATEAU, RAGECANDYBAR and RARE CANDY. Basically all of the food items you can think of, berries aside.

If you're really desperate to get back on... set your time so that it's a minute before the evening starts (ie for summer set it to 18:59) and then go on B/W and wait for it to roll over to the beginning of the summer hour. It won't work immediately but if you give it about 30-45 seconds after it rolls over to the beginning of the hour, the receptionist SHOULD let you on. I've gotten it to work myself but it might be a bit weird in its execution, so my apologies if it doesn't work so well for you.

---

The last area to visit in west Unova is known as the Challenger's Cave. Remember the cave on Route 9 (west of Opelucid City) that was blocked by a fighter when we were there before? Now that we've got the National Dex, he's moved out of the way, allowing us to enter. Be warned - the Challenger's Cave can be quite tough compared to the other areas, simply due to the trainers being more advanced. If you think you're prepared, enter. If not, feel free to skip to the east Unova sections and come back here later.

Use Flash immediately. A couple of steps forward and a backpacker will challenge you with a Golbat. Fun start, huh? Knock it out of the air, and then we can continue. Go down the steps right here.

The possible appearance of a Wild Riolu may interest some of you. They aren't actually too rare, but might be annoying to evolve afterwards. I'd catch one in a Luxury Ball if possible to speed things up.

There's an Ace Trainer a little in front of you. He has quite a variety of Pokemon, two of which are pretty fast. Try not to overexert yourself here - go back and heal in Opelucid City if you need it! Also, his Sudowoodo has Sturdy, which you will want to watch out for. Once you beat him, check the rock above him for a hidden ETHER, then make sure you have a fighting chance before you continue further on.

Follow the path around and you'll come to a female Ace Trainer. This girl has three Pokemon, none of which are especially tough thankfully, although Grumpig can be annoyingly sturdy. Once she's done with, keep following the path up and you'll able to get a PP UP in the top left corner of the room.

Head up the stairs near the PP Up then and take the bridge across. Pick up the NUGGET, then return to the female Ace Trainer and take the path left between the two rocks. By the stairs, go in between the two rocks and face the wall on the left. Examine it for a MAX POTION, then descend the stairs.

SAVE NOW. There is a very dangerous trainer down here. If your levels are fine then it won't be a problem, but otherwise... I recommend you shift your lead to something that can use an Electric move. If you have none, then I wish you luck.

Go up and you'll find some water. Surf across until you reach the end of the water. Get off on the bottom piece of land, go straight right and check the rock for a FULL RESTORE. Get back on the water and Surf over to the upper piece of land.

Follow this path along, going up the steps and across the bridges. Eventually, you'll go down the steps. SAVE AGAIN. The dangerous trainer I mentioned is very close by. If you go right (keep to the bottom wall), you'll see him. He's the guy dressed in black with the brown hat. You CAN avoid him, although he moves very fast. If you want to avoid him, sneak past him and head east.

If you want to challenge him, be my guest. This guy has SIX Pokemon, and they're all very good Pokemon at that. His lead is a Gyarados, which most Pokemon players will know is a very destructive Pokemon. If you have an Electric move, USE IT, though hopefully it's special so Intimidate doesn't cause you too many problems. Aside from that, this guy has a mix of fast and strong Pokemon. Of particular note is his Snorlax, who can prove particularly deadly. It has Body Slam, Crunch, Wild Charge and Heavy Slam to use, all of which are quite powerful off of Snorlax's 110 base attack. Fighting moves are best against it, and you want to attack it physically. Low Kick might work pretty well if you happen to have it, though a Close Combat will do just as well. Thankfully they were sympathetic enough to not give this guy any healing items, but it's a tough fight all the same. You get some very nice EXP for it though, at least, as well as a few new PokeDex entries. His Druddigon also has Outrage, which is definitely something to watch out for!

Once you've defeated that hellspawn of a trainer (though I bet I overreacted a little), go east and follow this path. Although it looks confusing because there's a fair few different levels, there is only one path to follow. After you cross the second bridge there's a MAX ETHER you can grab from the rock on the left, for the record.

Keep following the path and eventually you'll descend some steps and have a choice between left up more steps and right. Go right first so you can pick up a TIMER BALL, then go back and take the left route. Keep going on this route; when you see a rock after going down several steps, examine it for a STAR PIECE, then keep going.

The path will split again between a choice of left with more steps and right. Take the left route first this time and check the rock in the dip for a RARE CANDY. There's also a PROTEIN to pick up just above, and a valuable TM71, STONE EDGE if you move onto the raised ground above.

Return now to where the path split (ie go back up all the steps) and head right this time to find a woman veteran trainer. She isn't as tough as the guy, but still has four formidable Pokemon. Well, I say formidable, but maybe only some are. Wormadam and all... although her other three fit the bill.

Get onto the water with Surf and check the center of the rock a bit above you for a HEART SCALE. Surf around a gap in this rock now and you can find an OVAL STONE. Also, if you go back down to the bottom of the rock and Surf to the right, you can find a BLACK BELT to pick up.

That's all for this cave. There's no legendary or anything I'm afraid, but we got plenty of EXP and items out of this adventure, didn't we? If anything, that Stone Edge TM was a valuable reward, though I do find it weird that a post National Dex cave like this has no apparent secret.

Anyway, make your way back to Opelucid City and heal up. Now is the time to begin conquering the eastern parts of Unova; when you're ready, head out east through the gatehouse on the right side of Opelucid City.

Well that was one hell of an encounter list. I hope you have Waterfall on you, since you'll need to it to explore this route fully. If not, either don't worry about it or go back and get one. Your choice entirely. You can also get Braviary/Mandibuzz and Bisharp in the doubles grass; it'll make your PokeDex completion a lot easier if you intend to do it. The wild levels can reach as high as 60 in the doubles grass though!

Directly right is a backpacker who will challenge you with a Croagunk. As you can probably guess, the levels aren't going to let up at all. Pick up the HYPER POTION in the grass above him and then continue moving to the right.

If you have your itemfinder out you'll probably notice it's being a bit on the erratic side; there's hidden items all around, but you'll need to go around waterfalls and on the waters to get everything.

As I said, head right and you'll find a ranger to fight. She'll throw a Rapidash at you, as well as a Cacturne and a Mantine. Quite an interesting mix of older Pokemon. She'll also give you a LEPPA BERRY as a reward for beating her.

Now, if you have Waterfall, get on the water above the ranger and move up this waterfall. At the top, go right for TM50, OVERHEAT, then Surf over to the left side and check the spot furthest left that you can reach (between the trees) for a hidden MAX REVIVE. Descend the waterfall afterwards.

Surf on the water below her afterwards and go straight left onto the land below the fence. One of the flowers near the end of this small path has a HYPER POTION. Get back on the water afterwards and Surf right. You'll reach a Waterfall; if you have Waterfall on a Pokemon you can descend it automatically, but otherwise you won't be able to cross it.

Go down if you can, then Surf up to the land. The doubles grass is here if you wanted it. There's a ranger to fight, who will give you another LEPPA BERRY'. There's also a PROTECTOR'' to be found at the end of this area. Head back up the Waterfall to the bridge with the ranger afterwards.

Now, we can continue heading right. There's nothing of importance in the caravan as far as I'm aware. There's a backpacker on the bridge who will fight you, speaking in French. At least on the Japanese version. Afterwards you can pass through the gatehouse to the right.

This is probably the most interesting bridge area out of the five in the region (Skyarrow Bridge, Driftveil Drawbridge, Tubeline Bridge, Village Bridge and the Marvelous Bridge which we have yet to visit.) Of course it has no incredibly panoramic views like Skyarrow Bridge, but this place has trainers, Wild Pokemon and items to collect!

To start with, take the path up and you'll find a vending machine and a small relaxation spot. Talk to the guitarist here to add an extra instrument to the music! Return to where we entered and this time head down.

There's a fair bit of grass here, as well as a trainer here with a grand total of six - though weak - Pokemon. The fight unfortunately doesn't give that much EXP since they're all unevolved. Moving a bit right of that girl, there's a barrel by the shore in which you can obtain the valuable LEFTOVERS, which will aid you greatly if you want to take part in the Battle Subway, or even in the game in general since it doesn't disappear after one use.

If you keep going north here you can pass under the bridge. Do so and then Surf onto the small island to the right and claim the CALCIUM here. If you Surf further over to the right, you'll find a lot more land. Check out the top right here; there's tall grass and another instrument person. Talk to him to introduce another instrument into the song - it's beginning to build up now! There's also a HP UP to find in a gap enclosed by grass in the south-east of the area.

Return left out of this clearing and head south, passing under the bridge. There's a couple trainers here; talk to that scientist looking over the river and she'll fight. The baker in front of the caravan to the right will also fight you. She's the last trainer here though. She asks you if you want to hand out menus after the battle. I'm not sure how the whole process works but you can apparently get a LUM BERRY out of it daily.

Head up from the right hand side and we'll actually be on the other side of the bridge. Go left onto the bridge; now you will see why it is called 'Village' Bridge. The first house on the right has a girl who will heal your Pokemon. The second has a girl with four Patrat, and all five of them will run out the house if you talk to her. We'll see her again later on.

The third house has a guy who wants to see a specific Water-type Pokemon. Show him it and he'll give you a DIVE BALL. The Pokemon also has to have been fished up; Surf won't work. You can do this once a day.

You can then go left across the bridge and you'll have a slight camera change as you cross. Talk to the guy to the right of the next house you see; he doesn't look like a musical player in the least, but this guy will add vocals to the music! They're not legible words or anything, but it sounds pretty cool. He doesn't seem to join in permanently for a while though. Aside from that, the next house has nothing and neither do the two houses next to that. So yeah, we're pretty much done here. Leave through the gatehouse to the east. Unfortunately all of the instruments reset when you leave, so you'll have to talk to the instrument players again to get the whole track back on the game. Oh well ;-;

This route is very... natural, for lack of a better word. You can see from the Wild Pokemon here that it's mostly full of Grass and Bug-types. Most of them are pretty new too, at least in the sense that you haven't seen them in Unova before.

Going straight ahead, you'll exit the range of the fence. Slip to the underside of it by taking the gap right below the end and pick up the FULL HEAL, then go back and go straight forward and pick up the TM53, ENERGY BALL in the dip by here, a valuable Grass-type move of 80 power which a lot of Pokemon can learn. Battle the breeder by here for a SITRUS BERRY, then use the itemfinder to pick out a hidden TINYMUSHROOM a bit to the top left of her.

Go straight down now to find a pair of cheerleaders; beat their bats and continue left, taking this route under the grass. There's a school girl to crush, and another breeder a bit to the top right (we don't want to enter the city just yet) who will also give you a SITRUS BERRY for winning. Very near him is another hidden TINYMUSHROOM to get. There's a REVIVE in the top right, and another TINYMUSHROOM that is hidden a bit to the left of the last one. There's also one more trainer to take care of, who is looking around in the center of the route.

There's also a hidden BIG MUSHROOM a bit above him. That's all for Route 12 - head to Lacunosa Town via the southwest exit.

Route 13 is a very large route, with quite a lot of Pokemon variety. Quite interesting to find things such as wild Drifblim, huh? There's plenty in this route to do as well as a cave to explore, but we may as well get the route done first; it's easier than splitting Route 13 into two parts.

Start by fighting the trainer directly below you, defeating her three Pokemon (including a very bouncy Shroomish). If you have Cut, cut the tree right below her to get a MAX ETHER.

Continue down south afterwards; there's a youngster circling trees that you can fight. Go down across the bridge afterwards. This girl here wants some (tele?)grams, which we shall be receiving momentarily.

Move down through the grass and you'll find an artist overlooking the scenery; defeat his Camerupt and pick up the RAZOR CLAW and GRAM 2 below (Yup, a key item that you pick up off the floor. Strange). Return back across the bridge and go left, down the steps.

Take this path around and fight the fisherman (who at last has more than just a Basculin, thank the lord) and keep going right. You'll come to a path split; talk to the man right above you to get the GRAM 1, then go down. Beat the fisherman on this sand bar (here's your usual Magikarp fisherman), then get on the water to the left and Surf left; you can examine the wall over here by the rocks to get a HEART SCALE (as always, use the itemfinder.)

Return to shore afterwards, head south, fight the parasol lady then go out into the water on the right. There's a DEEPSEASCALE on some shallow water to the right, and a fisherman to fight on the shallow water patch below that. The island to the left also has tall grass and a RARE CANDY to pick up that's hidden in one of the southern grass patches, as well as a hidden MAX REVIVE in one of the northern grass patches.

Return to shore again and head left. There's a guy dressed in black by here; you can talk to him once a day to receive a certain treasure. When I say treasure, I mean he has a huge list of items that he may give to you. Possible items are:

As you can see, there are quite a lot of rare items to be found in that pile. They aren't all useful, but there are a lot of evolution items to be found there. Daily visits are recommended.

The house to the left contains two people; the old man on the left is the elemental beam tutor of this game, and will teach any of the fully evolved starter Pokemon (Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Meganium, Typhlosion, Feraligatr, Sceptile, Blaziken, Swampert, Torterra, Infernape, Empoleon, Serperior, Emboar and Samurott) their respective elemental beam (Frenzy Plant, Blast Burn or Hydro Cannon). They are powerful 150 base power moves with the elemental type of that starter, with 90% accuracy. The catch? They are just like Hyper Beam and Giga Impact in that the user has to recharge after using them. New Gen V mechanics mean you can now switch on the recharge turn, but it can be wasteful all the same. It's not something I'd recommend for competitive battles, but it may work in the main game.

There's some water above the house. Get on it and take it left. You'll come to a piece of shore with a house; there's a PEARL STRING to be found hidden on the ground here - it's useless, but it will sell for an incredible $60,000 if you give it to the stone enthusiast in Icirrus City.

You can also enter the house and talk to the guy to receive the SPLASH PLATE and DRACO PLATE, special items that will boost the power of moves of their respective types, as well as change the type of Arceus when equipped to it. The remaining fourteen plates are found somewhere rather special which we'll see soon enough.

Return back to the elemental beam house and take the path back to near the parasol lady and head down this time. Talk to the parasol lady below you to receive the GRAM 3, giving us all three grams; we'll deliver them shortly.

There's another fisherman to fight just below, and then another path split. First, slip behind the land on the right by taking the sand path just above it. Follow it through and keep your itemfinder at the ready. There's a STARDUST and a PEARL, AND another STARDUST to be found on this path, as well as a trainer. Afterwards, rather than jumping off the ledge, return to where the path split.

This time the left stairs up. Follow this path around to get even higher; then above you there is a Strength boulder to push. Do so and you can pick up the TM29, PSYCHIC resting on the ground. I only wish this TM was a lot earlier in the game, but never mind.

Return to the path split and this time take the right path. Go straight down once you ascend the steps for a Cut tree; if you can, cut it down and grab the ELECTRIZER on the ground. Return and fight the twins - who use the energetically dancing Plusle and Minun - then the two elderly trainers over on the right.

That covers the majority of the route. Now, we could exit south into Undella Town, but there's still a bit more to do. Return to the girl with the Wingull we saw on the bridge on the northern half of the route. Now that we have all three grams, talk to her for a small sequence with a reward of TM89, U-TURN.

Secondly, return to where we talked to the old man for the first gram (just follow the path again from where you talked to the girl) and use Surf to get around the rock that is blocking the sand path by here. Get back on the land and take the path north. There's a set of steps as well as a PRISM SCALE to pick up (a new item that replaces the old evolution method for Feebas). Move up the steps, then push the Strength boulder on the left into its rightful place. This creates a shortcut between the Lacunosa Town exit and this part of the Route, which can prove useful. If I were you, go and heal in Lacunosa Town now, then return to where we just moved the boulder.

Move north now and you'll enter a new area; this is the outside of the Giant Chasm, but for all intents and purposes we are still in Route 13; the wild Pokemon are identical. When you're ready to explore properly, head into the cave entrance down the steps.